Debris, paper, plastic materials, glass materials, wood, small pieces of magnetic material, non magnetic cans, tire treads and the like, that accumulate along the side of roads and highways is normally picked up by manual labor. In the timber industry, debris, limbs and tree tops, are normally left to decay or burned once the timber is harvested. If burned, the debris is raked into piles using bull dozers with rakes and allowed to dry before it is burned.
In general, the removal of debris is a necessary “evil” because it presents an unsightly appearance and can be a health hazard. Again, the most used method of debris removal is manual labor which is expensive, time consuming and potentially hazardous to the laborers. Mechanical devices have been developed for the automatic pick up of roadside trash. U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,286 issued to Smith et al. is an example of the type of mechanical prior art devices of which Applicant is aware. Smith et al. discloses using a rotating set of rubber fingers to pick up the trash and another set of fingers to pick the trash off of the rotating fingers. The trash is deposited onto a fast moving conveyor belt that literally throws the trash to the back of a truck. The truck surrounds the conveyor belt and thus presents a mechanically complex problem when repairs are required or the truck is to be emptied. Smith et al. does not disclose any treatment of the trash or trash residue and the trash is never segregated by the system.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a trash removal device that is easy to use and maintain, that is easy to empty when full and which treats the trash upon pickup. Further, there is a need for a trash removal device that segregates trash and which does not spew pollutants into the environment. It therefore is an object of this invention to provide a trash harvester system for the collection of debris that treats the trash on pick up, that segregates the trash when desired, that limits air pollution created by the use of the system and which is easy to empty when full.